The Change
by dikela
Summary: Summary: Looking back Jack couldn't remember anything that might have prepared him. No warnings to heed, no symptoms to recognize…
1. Chapter 1

A/N: In 2006 I've read a story in a livejournal by gottalovev. A lovely humorous Jack/Sawyer story. I must warn you that it is slash, though, so don't blame her if you go there.

The story is here: http: // gottalovev . livejournal . com / 38981 . html (take away the spaces)

I loved the idea and somehow I started to write my own story. I don't write slash, so the only thing I took from her was the changing of Jack.

The change.

Summary: Looking back Jack couldn't remember anything that might have prepared him. No warnings to heed, no symptoms to recognize…

**1**

Jack didn't do anything differently that morning - woke up in his tent, washed, had breakfast, quarrelled with Sawyer; took care of people's hurts and ills, quarrelled with Sawyer; spoke to Sayid, looked at Aaron, quarrelled with Sawyer; spoke to Kate, quarrelled with… No, by that time Sawyer had already left to cut wood. Jack left too, with Kate, to get fruit. But it didn't mean anything, he was just helping. And Charley was with them too. Nothing different, a typical morning. It couldn't be that fleeting thought…

…or could it?

Jack had to see a patient, so he took the filled bag with him and left Kate and Charley to gather more fruit. He was hot, impatient to get to the beach, jump into the ocean, cool off a little. The air was heavy and close, full of smells and scents of the jungle, but he didn't expect the rain.

The sun seemed to get hotter and hotter with every passing moment and by now Jack was longing for the rain. After drinking all his water he almost turned to the caves, but changed his mind – the beach was closer.

Something moved under the bush, and Jack turned expecting a snake but it was a small frog. It jumped and was lost to the eyes, and for the moment he almost envied it its careless life in the cool grass. The wind touched his hot face and he forgot the frog.

The dizziness was brief; still Jack stumbled, paused, and shook his head. The sun, he thought, better hurry to the beach and drink.

A few steps and Jack was stumbling again; and then something fell on him driving him into the ground. His last thought was – the storm, and he wondered that he didn't hear its approach.

When Jack came to, he found himself under some great weight but he was lying in a hollow that kept him from being squashed. The earth was hard and large sticks were poking him and scratching his bare skin. Wait. Bare skin? He has been fully clothed, and what was lying on him? It felt like cloth… but like no cloth he had ever touched. It was very thick and stiff; Jack couldn't move it at all. Still there was a narrow gap letting in some light, and he tried to check himself. With difficulty he brought his hands before him and couldn't believe his eyes.

The hands were not human.

The fingers were very long and lumpy, the forearms were too thin, the very skin looked wrong. Jack was afraid to move but he had to, he had to make sure. And so he brought his hands up and touched his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Sawyer was coming back to the beach after 'communing with nature' when he heard a far-off scream.

Breaking through the bushes he saw a large bag of fruit on the ground. Immediately he thought of Kate, but after a moment of panic he saw a man's clothing under the bag and realized that the screaming was coming from much closer than he thought at first. Right from under the bag, in fact.

He warily approached and called out, "Hey!"

The screaming stopped. You could almost say that it was cut off. Then he heard a soft whimpering from under the bag, and steeling himself he moved it a little. Nothing. Someone's clothing lying there …Jack's clothing. And come to think of it the screams did sound like Doc's voice.

"Hey, Jackass!" Sawyer put the bag to the side and poked the clothes. Nothing. No Jack, no hole in the ground. No sound from whoever was screaming.

So next he picked up the clothes. And something fell out. And it said, "Ouch."

And then it said, "Watch what you are doing, Sawyer!"

And it was a frog.

And Sawyer sat down. And then he got MAD.

He snatched up the frog and held it up to his face. It was a real live frog, which looked just like a frog should. Except that it opened its mouth and said, "Don't even think about squishing me, Sawyer."


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Jack wished he could cover his ears.

"Why, you … !!!" Sawyer looked as if he wanted to squish Jack… no, as if he wanted to stomp on Jack and THEN squish him… no, he wanted…

…Sawyer looked as if he didn't know _what_ he wanted.

And Jack realized that for all his angry yelling Sawyer was being very careful with him, not squeezing and not shaking. Somehow he believed at once, didn't even need to see the tiny tattoos.

He sighed, "So what now? D'you want me to take you to the beach? Whom shall we talk to first? Sayid? Or Locke?"

Jack shook his head to clear it. The way Sawyer's moods kept changing made him dizzy. He did expect the yelling and swearing, and having to prove who he is, though Sawyer needed surprisingly little convincing. But now this calm acceptance and readiness to do something, to plan, to help…

"Sayid, yes. I guess we shall have to tell all the rest too, it is not as if we have a specialist. But first – Sayid."

Sawyer leaned against a tree and opened his hand letting Jack make himself comfortable on his palm. Jack rested for a moment; then he saw that Sawyer was examining him critically.

"Guess you're lookin' kinda dry, Doc. Sure you don't want me to find you a nice deep puddle? Or catch you a fly? Must be hungry after all this."

Jack tried to roll his eyes, and then settled for just squinting up at the Southerner. He _was_ hot. Very.

"I would be happy if you just wet me a little. My water bottle is empty, I was hot and thirsty even before this happened."

"Hey!" Sawyer looked worried at this, jumped up, and went deeper into the jungle.

"What?" Jack wanted to demand an explanation, but he was extremely hot, and he was gasping and panicking. "Sawyer! Sawyer…"

Sawyer was running by now; then he crashed through some vegetation and Jack felt water on his skin. Cool _wet_ water. He managed to open his eyes and saw that both of them were immersed in a deep puddle. Somehow it felt better than the best bath.

"Well, you did find me a nice puddle, thank you, but, I guess, I won't bother you for a fly. …Let's go to the beach, Sawyer. Maybe something can be done."


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

Sawyer heard Kate from afar and paused on the tree line. Of cause. She arrived and saw that Doc was absent; nobody saw him, nobody knew where he was… He glanced at Jack and grinned.

"It seems that you are missed, Jack-O. Want to see Freckles decimate Sayid, and Locke, and everybody, and go on a quest to save you single-handedly?"

"Shut up, Sawyer!" but Jack spoke absently, almost by rote. Maybe he did think Kate's behaviour was funny. Still… this time she was right to worry. "Sawyer, please, don't be a smart-ass now. And… if they blame you…"

"If…?! You mean – when, don't you, Jackass?"

"Well… Sawyer, please, just wait them out. I shall tell them it wasn't your fault. As soon as I could make myself heard. Just don't make it worse."

Sawyer huffed disdainfully, but _this_ _time_ he would listen to Jack, not that it would help. He _would_ be blamed and yelled at and, though it usually amused him, now he didn't want them to lose time on useless recriminations. He took a deep breath and felt Jack do the same; they looked at each other, Sawyer sighed and walked onto the beach.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

Kate realised Sayid wasn't listening to her. He was looking at something behind her back, and she saw his brows rise and then draw together. She turned.

Sawyer walking out of the jungle was not unusual, but then she looked, _really_ looked at him. He was filthy. Still she was ready to dismiss him when she saw what he was carrying.

In his hand was the bag Jack took with him …and he was carrying Jack's clothes.

"Where is he!?" Kate tore Jack's things from Sawyer and began pawing through the clothes. She didn't know what she was looking for but she _had_ to do something or go mad. She clutched Sawyer's shirt and began shaking him. He kept quiet, which was suspicious by itself, and he was guarding something in his hand. Still not answering her Sawyer spoke to Sayid.

"Get her away from me. Don't let others get too close. I want to talk to you first."

He swallowed nervously, "Somethin' _did_ happen to Jack, I don't know what and how, and… be quiet, Kate! He is alive and he isn't hurt; he is CHANGED."

Kate felt her heart stop. Changed? Changed – how? Where _was_ he? Sawyer looked scared and she was rapidly becoming terrified.

Taking herself in hand she tried to speak calmly.

"Explain yourself."

She could see that Sawyer was agitated; he took a deep breath and said something incredible, "Jack was changed into a frog."

"What?!! Why, you beast, you are… you are lying! Where is he?! What is your game? What sort of sick…"

Sayid interrupted her.

"Be quite, Kate. Sawyer, you do have to explain yourself, you know. The island _is_ strange, but this is not a fairytale."

Sawyer looked unhappy. He dropped Jack's things and slowly opened his hand disclosing a small brownish frog. Kate jumped back, "I hate frogs. Keep it away from me."

"This is Jack."

Kate practically choked on all the things she wanted to tell Sawyer, but Sayid was examining the little beast and frowning. And then… instead off helping her to take Sawyer's head off he spoke softly, "You do know what I shall do to you if this turns out to some elaborate hoax?"

"Yeah, I do. And no, it is _not_. This is really Jack, and I don't know what happened to him, and no, it was not something _I_ did. I found him like this."

Gently Sayid turned the frog around, "Did you think this is Jack because of the markings?"

"No, he knows who I am because I told him."


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

People meanwhile were slowly gathering around and when Jack spoke they became absolutely still. A woman screamed, and it made even those who were keeping away to come running. Amid the clamour of questions and answers, which were getting more fantastic by the minute, Charley squirmed through the crowd. Sawyer looked filthy, but it was not anything new, but Kate was crying, and Sayid was looking closely at something on Sawyer's palm. A frog?

Wait, was Sayid talking to it…?

Sawyer's explanation was met with silence; then everybody tried to see for him- or herself, and Sawyer and Sayid had trouble keeping Jack safe. But when asked for advice, everybody was struck dumb. People just weren't turned into frogs outside of Hollywood.

Locke began to say something about everything happening for a reason, but Sawyer yelled him down. Everyone was looking as if they were only waiting for their turn to yell at him too, and some of them were not even waiting, so Locke fell silent. To tell the truth, he didn't know what to say and wisely decided to wait and see. Maybe if he smiled mysteriously…

While Sawyer and Sayid were talking Claire and Hurly came up and had to be brought up to date. Immediately they were deafened by Hurley's yells, "Get it away from him! Get it away from him! He will squish it!"

"Dry up, Puffy. And whom are you callin' *IT*?! This is doc, JACK, remember? Or maybe we should keep him away from you, or else you could eat him. With mayonnaise…

At this Hurley got mad. "And how do we know that it wasn't something YOU did?"

"Listen, Dough Boy, I can do many things, but, last I checked, magic wasn't one of them!"

"That's it!!"

"What is IT, Hurly?"

"Magic! He was changed by magic! What?! Dude, do you know some way to turn Jack into a frog by _science_? No? No. We must magic him back."

He looked around proudly and everybody just looked back.

Sayid coughed, "And just how we are going to do it?"


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

Sawyer grunted in disgust, "Really, Kate! And you always said you were a country girl. You can close your eyes and imagine that he's a piece of mango. We can even squeeze some juice on him for you."

"Would you? Please. I know it is stupid, but I… I can't help it."

And so there was a frantic search for ripe mango, and Jack was covered in juice. It got into his nose and he sneezed just as Kate was approaching. So she shied off again and almost cried. Jack felt Sawyer's hand shake, as he laughed.

"Not used to the sneezin' mangoes, are you, Freckles?"

Nest moment he was laughingly dodging her blows and guarding Jack.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Stop it, girl, an' kiss him already! Stop it, I say, you are makin' me shake him!"

Kate stopped, panting.

"One word…! Just one more word out of you, Sawyer!! Now give him here!!!"

Sawyer warily came back and this time Kate managed the kiss.

Nothing.

The disappointment was great. Everybody, even Sawyer, was expecting it to work, just like a fairytale.

Then the rest of them tried - Claire, and Libby, Ana Lucia, Jane, Tracy, Nikki and Stephanie, Laura, Irine, Rose. …All the women took their turn with no result. Jack was still a frog.

"What now? Should the men take their turn?" Sawyer was being sarcastic but he was worried too. The magic failed and they had no science.

Sayid sighed helplessly. "If only we knew what happened. And changing him back… maybe if we learn what changed him into this… Jack, you would have to remember everything that happened today. Absolutely everything you did, ate, and drank; every place you were today. But I really don't know…"

Sawyer raised his head from washing the mango juice off Jack and scowled, "Now this's all very well, and I'm not sayin' you're wrong, mind, but did you think how he's goin' to live until we change him back? We can't just leave him to fend for himself."

Sawyer didn't expect himself to worry about Doc, but the Jack-frog was so small and trusting. Somehow Jack trusted him. Also he wondered that nobody tried to take Jack from him yet. He wasn't surprised Kate didn't after she turned out to be afraid of frogs; but even Hurly, for all his talk, made no move.

"Well? Who is going to take Doc in and look after him?"


End file.
